Bora-Care - Questions & Answers

Bora-Care and Timbor are both borate products used to treat wood, but they could not be more different.  Timbor is in a powder form that is mixed with water.  It is much less expensive but it is intended more for protecting new wood only, or wood that you know does not have any issues.  Timbor will only penetrate the outer layer of the wood so it is more for protection or for treating fungus on the surface of the wood. 

If you have an active infestation of termites, powder-post beetles or wood borers deep inside the wood then Timbor would not make it through the wood to kill these insects.  BoraCare is a liquid borate but has an additive, a glycol solution, which allows the product to penetrate through the entire piece of wood, therefore it should be used any time you have an active infestation because you are guaranteed it will kill anything in the wood no matter how deep it is.  Also, BoraCare will last forever in the wood so you will never have to worry about any infestations in the wood that you treat ever again. 

Just to recap if you have an existing infestation, you should use Bora-Care.  If you are just treating wood to be used in new construction or surface fungus, then Timbor is fine to use.  Both products are very safe, virtually odorless and do not require respirators unless you are in a enclosed space with no ventilation.  You should always wear gloves and protect your eyes anytime you apply pesticides or herbicides.  All you need to apply either product is a one or two gallon hand pump sprayer.  Timbor is used at 1.5 lbs of Timbor to each gallon of water.  Bora-Care is mixed 1:1, one gallon of Bora-Care to one gallon of water which will make two finished gallons. Both products should be mixed in a 5 gallon bucket and then poured in your sprayer to use.  We sell these products to homeowners every day and they are very successful treating their issues and you can have great success too.  Remember that we are always here to help.  Good Luck!

Since you have droppings then that means dry wood termites is your issue and you probably live in CA or FL.  If you see droppings then there are "kick out"holes which you should be able to find on the wood where the termites that are inside the wood are kicking out their pellets onto the floor.  This will help you zero in on the wood that you are treating. 

Both Termidor SC (fipronil for termites) and Bora-Care will work, but Bora-Care is typically the better one to use for this situation. Termidor SC is not a wood treatment product, so for it to work you have to drill holes EXACTLY where the termites are and it has to touch the termites to work.  If you miss where they are, it will not work.  Also, Termidor SC does not really have any residual in the wood, so after you treat inside the wood with Termidor SC and it dries, that wood is exposed for future termite and beetle infestations.

Termidor: http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/termidor-sc-p-184.html

Bora-Care is usually the preferred choice if most of the wood is exposed and it is raw wood you are treating, meaning it is not painted, stained, or sealed, it is just normal wood.  Bora-Care is made only for wood, and you do not have to know exactly where the termites are for it to work which is a plus.  Bora-Care is sprayed evenly over all exposed surfaces of the wood and actually penetrates through the entire piece of wood.  When the termites in the wood try to consume the wood after it has been treated, they ingest the Bora-Care with the wood and die.  No matter where they are in the wood the Bora-Care will find them as long as you treated the exposed wood that you can see.  The other main benefit is that Bora-Care stays in the wood forever, so you will not have to worry about termites or beetles infesting the wood that you treated ever again.

Bora-Care:  http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/boracare-p-100.html

Yes. Wood treated with Bora-Care can be painted, stained or sealed once it is dry which usually takes 24 hours.

How much Bora-Care you need depends more on the size of the wood you are treating than just square footage.  Also, it's the lineal footage of the wood more than square footage.  Here is a link to a worksheet that you can fill out and it should give you the correct amount needed based on the size of wood you have and how much you need to treat.  Typically, each gallon of Bora-Care, after mixed 1:1 with water, will treat about 1000 square feet of space, but if you have larger sized wood (for example:  2 x 8 instead of 2 x 4), then one gallon of Bora-Care may only treat 800 square feet.  The worksheet should be able to get you an exact estimate.

Boracare MUST be diluted using hot water. As you noticed, cold water will not allow the Boracare to dilute with the water and you will just wind up with a clogged sprayer. You should dilute the Boracare with hot water in a bucket and then add the dilution to your sprayer to avoid clogging. (Never mix Boracare directly in your sprayer)

Yes, Boracare can (and in many instances MUST) be used on pressure treated wood.  As a termite barrier under Section VI of the label it is required to be applied twice to exterior wall sill plate and that is always pressure treated.  
All pressure treated wood that is cut or drilled MUST have a field treatment or end cut application in order to meet building code (including sill plate in a home - see IRC 2016 and AWPA Standard M4). 

It is also  useful to treat pressure treated wood as the heartwood is not treated properly by pressure treatment (especially refractory species such as Douglas fir, and the transition wood of pine decking is often the first to rot out and will greatly benefit from a treatment with Boracare with Moldcare at 5 years (see Lloyd et al., 2013).

Posts, piles and poles also have the heartwood issue and can be treated but this is often best done with Jecta.

Right here on our site of course! Bora-Care is professional grade product and is not available over the counter in stores. We do offer a low price guarantee and free shipping to most states.

One gallon of Bora-Care mixed with one gallon of water will make two finished gallons.  These two finished gallons of Bora-Care will treat 1200 lineal feet of 2x4 sized wood, treating all exposed sides.  Remember you do not need to over apply the product, just enough to wet the surface of the wood.

Undiluted Bora-Care should be used within three years of the date of purchase. Once diluted Bora-Care should be used immediately. Bora-Care that is left for more than a few hours after it has been diluted will start to separate from the water and will be impossible to get back into a proper diluted form.

You should allow areas treated with Bora-Care to dry for 24-48 hours before touching or painting them. Most applicators apply two coats of Bora-Care for best results.

Boracare is known to be a green product and less toxic than many other wood preservative products. Having said that, any product that has the ability to kill insects and fungus does have some level of toxicity. We recommend that you read the product lable and the MSDS to determine if you are comfortable with the level of toxicity of Boracare. Once dry, Boracare is known to be less toxic than common table salt.

It depends on the thickness of the wood and the moisture content of the wood.  Powder Post Beetles can be very deep into the wood.  Bora-Care can take up to 30 days or more to penetrate all the way through a piece of wood and this will vary depending on how thick the wood is and the moisture content.  So 2 weeks has definitely not been long enough.  You should only need two coats if the wood you were treating was thicker than 8 inches.  You should give it at least another 3 weeks, and even then it could take a little longer if the beetles are all the way in the center of the wood.

Bora-Care is a very safe product and it is considered a green product as well.  Typically, it takes about an hour for the surface of the wood to dry.  After application has dried completely, it should be perfectly fine for children and pets to re-enter the house. Please read the BoraCare product label for complete usage instructions.

Application Technique: Injection holes (typically 7/64" or 1/8" in diameter) should be drilled in the area of suspected or known infestation. Drill the holes through the widest dimension of the wood that is available. Holes should extend approximately 3/4 of the way into the beam. If the widest surface is not accessible, holes can be drilled approximately 8-10 inches apart into a narrower surface. Press and hold the injection tip firmly into each hole and inject Boracare until runoff is observed from other holes, galleries, kick-out holes, etc. You may get splash back if the wood is solid. Release the trigger, wait briefly and withdraw the injection tip. Excess solution can be absorbed with paper towels and disposed of in ordinary trash. The holes should be in a diamond pattern and be spaced approximately 4-6 inches across the grain and 12-16 inches along the grain (Figure 1). When possible, the wood should be treated one diamond length pattern beyond the immediate area of visible infestation.

Termidor SC will not penetrate wood and the residual left behind will only last for about 6 weeks at most. You need to use Bora-Care for your application. Bora-Care will penetrate several inches in to the wood and it will last for the life of the wood.

Bora-Care can be sold to any homeowner without an applicators license as long as they are using it on their own property and are not treating other peoples homes for profit. 

Both Termidor and Bora-Care are good for treating drywood termites.  They do it in different ways though.  Termidor is considered to be one of the best treatments around, however it is typically meant for subterranean termites and it is poured into the ground.  When using Termidor to treat drywood termites you have to drill holes into the wood and get the Termidor directly into the void where the termites are for it to work. Termidor will not penetrate through the word, you have to get it in the right place.  Also, Termidor does not have any long term protection qualities in the wood.  Bora-Care is a wood treatment product and will penetrate through the wood. When applying Bora-Care you do not have to get it directly where the termites are.  You would typically just spray it on the surface of the wood and the Bora-Care will penetrate through the wood and kill the termites inside.  Also, since Bora-Care is a wood treatment product, it will stay in the wood forever and protect it forever.  The down side is that Bora-Care can only be applied to normal raw wood.  It cannot be applied to wood that has been painted, stained, or sealed.  So, if you are exposing the studs or normal wood anywhere on the house or replacing any wood then usually Bora-Care is what you want to use since it will protect the wood long term.  If you have an infestation in wood that is painted and you will not be replacing it, then typically you would drill holes into the wood and use Termidor

Bora-Care alone will kill the dry wood termites very effectively.  Non-repellents do not kill on contact.  They have a delay kill which is what you want for termites.  Bora-Care will kill termites much faster than a non-repellent product which can take up to 90 days to kill the termite colony.  We suggest just using Bora-Care since it is the #1 treatment on the market for dry wood termites.

No. Boracare by itself will not treat or prevent mold. Boracare with Moldcare will treat existing mold and prevent mold in the future. Boracare with Moldcare will not remove the mold stain however, for that you should use Mold clean.

Boracare is labeled to be applied with a paint brush. 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4 mixture ratios must be used within 24 hours to prevent the product from degrading. A 1:5 mixture ratio can remain stable for up to 30 days. You should do your best to only mix enough solution for the job you are doing that day to prevent having to discard any solution. Any unused solution can be dumped out right up against the foundation of the structure taking care not to get it on plants.